2.5 – Select, Research, Improve

Now that you have many ideas, it’s time to think like real engineers. Engineers don’t choose the first idea—they compare, research, and improve their ideas before moving forward. This step helps you choose the strongest solution and make it even better so it can truly solve the problem. 

Narrowing Down Your Ideas (Convergent Thinking)

Now that you have brainstormed many ideas during the Ideate stage, it is time to focus your thinking. Engineers do not move forward with every idea—they carefully choose the best one to develop and test.

This process is called convergent thinking. It means taking many ideas and narrowing them down to one strong solution that you will turn into a prototype.

Making a good decision is an important part of the design thinking process. You should choose your best idea based on your knowledge, facts, research, experiences, and sometimes even your intuition.

Your Task

Open your Design Thinking Digital Portfolio.

With your group (or individually):

• Review the different decision-making methods

• Choose one method that works best for you

• Use it to help you decide on your best idea

Be ready to discuss your choice with your teacher, as there may be other helpful strategies you can try.